Started the day at a tomato farm. Surprising? Tomatoes are popular in Iceland so the quest to produce all year round fruit is important. This place is so innovative and high-tech! The vines are grown in a hothouse, heated by geothermal water, with artificial lighting (tomatoes need 14+ hours of light per day) provided by geothermal energy. The vines grow out of bags of imported Norwegian soil, with drip watering and other intensive farming techniques.
The flowers are pollinated by bumble bees which arrive in the boxes below with tailored, small holes. One queen bee per box with the drones doing the work as usual.
Remarkable use of technology to produce food. It can all be controlled remotely from a smart phone. They do manage to produce tomatoes all year round, even during the darkest depths of Winter.
Another side of their operation is showing off their Icelandic horses. I mentioned it earlier, but if you've forgotten, the horses are unique in having 5 gaits; the usual 3 of walk, trot and canter/gallop plus 2 extras of the unique tolt and the less-unique flying pace. Both these gaits are very sure-footed and stable for the riders who love to demonstrate this by carrying a beer with them to show it doesn't spill. The flying pace looks to me to be the same as conventional pacing, as in Harness Racing, but the tolt is different from the usual trot or 'square-gait'. Most of the horses do these gaits naturally; they are not taught or trained to do them. Google and Wikipedia explain more detail, but they are lovely horses; about 14 hands so small; many different colours; tightly controlled breeding in that no other horses are allowed into Iceland and if an Icelandic horse goes out of the country it cannot return, and several other unique features. Brought to Iceland by the Vikings about 900AD. Also, they have cleated shoes (with small spikes) for Winter and running across ice and apparently the horses love that.
Building up to the flying pace, with both left legs, then both right legs in sync.
Most of them are very docile and friendly....
... so one would have to try a 'selfie' with a horse....
.... and Mary checked out another one outside, before jumping back in the bus for another spot.
I wonder what happens at this place? No prizes!
Below is the original geyser called 'Geysir'. It is no longer active all the time - a bit like an old bloke sitting in a chair who occasionally wakes up, snorts, coughs and then back to sleep. The water is still very hot (90-100 degrees C).
Nearby is the 'wannabe' geyser, Little Geysir, which bubbles along all the time but doesn't do much more than that.
The tourist attraction of note is further up the hill and blasts every few minutes but irregularly. So everyone stands around with cameras poised, waiting. Usually the arms get tired and fall just as it blows.
Got one!
Another ...... waterfall.
... but this time with a ladder provided for salmon to get upstream to spawn.
An interesting feature nearby was a stock yard and 'drafting' structure, of sorts, for when stock are rounded up from the high country in Autumn. Apparently the sheep (and perhaps cattle) are tagged and the horses are probably sorted by looks and local knowledge.
The entry chute is obvious and then each farmer has a yard coming off the central yard. It must be an interesting sight when they sort the sheep because I could not see any 'drafting' structure, so it must be a lot of shouting and waving of arms.
Oh and by the way, we visited a few waterfalls along the way, in case you hadn't noticed! This one was Gullfoss and, I have to admit, it was spectacular!
Firstly, a 'selfie'!
I wish we had a geological map of the area. There must be some substantial faults to produce this, although the suggestion was that glaciers did it. Can't see that as true. There were several 'steps' in the waterfall and the final drop was a long way. The signage compared this to Niagara Falls in terms of power. Not sure how they measure that but the volume of water and the loss of potential energy is considerable. Let's be clear! I liked this waterfall and photos don't do it justice, but I'll try!
... and a photo at the top of the waterfall.
The time at Thingvellir (anglicised spelling; should start with an Icelandic letter which looks like p with the ascender elongated; sounds like 'th') National Park was of great interest. As in the photo and the map below, this spot was a broad valley bounded each side by steep basalt cliffs. Firstly, it features in Icelandic political history as a very significant site as it was where the first democratically elected parliament in the world was convened. They also had women voting and a female President a long time ago. They are very proud of this, and so they should be.
More importantly (I think) is the geological significance. They claim it is a rift valley between the Eurasian plate in the distance and the North American plate where we were standing.
There is clear evidence of tension, i.e. pulling apart (as compared to compression when forces push rocks together). The basalts either side are jointed with very deep cracks often filled with water which is moving through.
The evidence for tension was clear and unequivocal. Look at the rocks below - they could fit back together.
It's a neat story for tourists to have the tectonic plates cleaving here, but I don't think there's enough thermal and volcanic activity to justify it. Nevertheless, I'll go with it for now. Certainly, any zone of separation would be wide rather than a line (tick); show evidence of tension (tick); be in a line of active volcanism (tick) and show some active thermal or volcanic activity. (only partial tick - some earthquake activity but no fresh lava or geothermal activity)
Below is some 'ropey' lava or 'pahoehoe' which shows lava cooling more slowly and the cooling skin on top behaving like skin on a bowl of custard. This is characteristic of areas of lava flow, but most of the lava we have seen this trip has been 'ah-ah' lava. (...and a mystery prize to anyone who remembers why it's named like that)
Heading into Reykjavik on our last day. Below is a field littered with rocks from the hill above, which roll down regularly, whenever the land shakes a bit. Remarkably, there is a house in the middle of the trees. Must be a gambler.
We stopped at a shopping centre which has an area devoted to earthquake activity etc. We experienced 40 seconds of a 6.5 Richter earthquake in a small dark room. It was quite scary and unpleasant. Locals verify it as realistic, so quite an experience. Thankfully, we live in a stable area of the globe which should not (but always could) have an earthquake.
A typical kitchen after an earthquake of 6.5 or thereabouts.
... and a fissure in the rocks was retained and made viewable for tourists with the appropriate signage to suggest the plate boundary is through here. I couldn't resist the opportunity to straddle two continents. Did I say I was sceptical?
In Reykjavik, we visited a very tall structure, a church on a hill. It is not signed clearly, but it is Hallgrímskirkja Church or Cathedral. It is a Lutheran Church, which is the state religion (a great story if you have time to chase it ... I'm sure Dr Google has details). The architect's incorporation of the columnar structure which is so common in the landscape is fascinating and ...
.... the statue of Leif Ericcson (the real discoverer of America) at the front is truly inspirational. I will look for a better photo of it.
The inside is spectacular in size but stark and devoid of any decoration usually associated with a church. There are two icons on either side of the altar or sanctuary ....
... and a statue of Jesus down the back by some renowned sculptor in Iceland. It bears remarkable resemblance to a statue in marble made for the Mercy Reflection Garden at McAuley Catholic College! Hmmm!
In the town was a sculpted piece dedicated to the women who walked this street in the past carrying water for their families.
Along the foreshore is a bold structure, which was the French Consulate at some stage, but it is famous for being the site of the meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhael Gorbachev in 1986, a meeting which is lauded as hastening the end of the Cold War.
And we had to visit the hot dog stand apparently made famous by Bill Clinton, who broke ranks during an official visit and went over for a hot dog with mustard. Now, this is the standard issue for all tourists who have heard the story. No, we didn't!
The Opera House on the foreshore is an impressive structure - well worthy of another 'selfie'.
The mixture of light, shade, colour and shape is remarkable inside.
... and a parting 'selfie' with the roof structure as background is most fitting.
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